Alanis Morissette: Anger, Attachment, & Postpartum

Alex Cooper interviews Alanis Morissette on creative identity, industry power dynamics and mental health. Morissette describes entering male-dominated business rooms as a teenager without understanding publishing or contracts, and argues that predatory behaviour was often rationalised by men calling young girls ‘mature for your age’. She also recalls what she describes as gendered gatekeeping at radio stations in the 1990s, saying programmers told her team they could not play her music because they were already playing another woman artist.

Morissette gives a detailed account of financial betrayal, saying she sensed something was wrong and pushed repeatedly for answers until paperwork inconsistencies surfaced; she says the matter went to trial and that addressing the court at sentencing before a female judge felt ‘corrective’. She also discusses backlash around her public image, including a claim that websites were created discussing how to kill her, and says some fellow artists later apologised for disparaging comments.

A major section focuses on motherhood and perinatal mental health. Morissette says she experienced severe ‘postpartum activity’—depression alongside intrusive thoughts, anxiety and rage—worsening with each pregnancy; she describes delaying treatment after her first child, seeking help sooner in later pregnancies, and says she ‘dipped into psychosis’ while still working and touring. Elsewhere, she talks about attachment, growing up around narcissistic dynamics, patterns of attraction and codependency, and the ways menopause has changed her willingness to speak plainly in professional settings.

• Morissette says men describing girls as ‘mature’ can be used to justify predatory sexual behaviour, and describes a common ‘freeze’ response.
• She recalls being overwhelmed by contract and publishing meetings as a teenager and says she lacked language for double standards and exploitation.
• Morissette alleges a former business manager stole ‘millions’, describing how she pursued answers and that the case went to trial and sentencing.
• She claims she faced extreme hostility at her peak, including websites she says discussed how to ‘murder’ her.
• Morissette says postpartum mental illness worsened after each pregnancy, that she sought help progressively sooner, and that she ‘dipped into psychosis’.
• She recalls radio stations telling her team they could not play her songs because they were already playing another female artist.